Farmers typically use a machine, such as a round baler, to collect crop materials from a windrow and form the crop materials into a bale for easier transport or storage. In such a machine, it is generally known in the art to wrap a formed bale (with material such as meshwrap, twine, or the like) in order to keep the formed bale intact. Commonly, such wrapping material is supplied from a mechanism associated with the baler, and is moved into the baling chamber from a source during a wrapping cycle.
Conventionally, the materials used for wrapping a bale are lightweight and flimsy, making them highly susceptible to being affected by factors such as wind, static electricity, and the like, as the material is fed into the baling chamber. Although such factors may be relatively inconsequential to other baling operations, they can present the potential of causing the wrapping material to be misdirected or caught upon some part of the baler disposed along the path of travel of the material into the chamber. For example, even slight winds can blow meshwrap material off course such that continued feeding of the material will cause the meshwrap to accumulate in undesirable areas.
Traditionally, obstacles to smooth and effective feeding of wrapping material from a source into the chamber are present in both the area of travel between the source and the feeding mechanism, and between the feeding mechanism and the inlet into the baling chamber, at which point the material is typically grasped by the bale, reducing the likelihood of any further wayward movement problems. For example wrapper dispensing mechanisms are often spaced some distance from the baling chamber, such as along a rear wall of the baler, requiring an apparatus for initially feeding the wrapping material to point at which it is grasped by the bale or bale forming mechanism. Similarly, the source of wrapping material is often stored some distance away from the feeding apparatus, such that a supply roll can be more easily loaded or unloaded into the baler, presenting additional areas where the wrapping material can be undesirably disturbed from its intended course.
The areas within the baler where wrapping material can become disassociated with its intended path of travel, or moved off course by external forces, have historically presented numerous problems in getting the wrapping material smoothly fed into the baling chamber. The prior art does not include a wrapper dispensing mechanism where the source roll is stored in a supporting relationship in contact with a feed roller that is itself shiftable into and out of engagement with the baling elements of the apparatus, virtually eliminating areas where the wrapping material can become disassociated with its intended path of travel.